2e

lhl

Afrhl.r llrrHlrpdor

to hlm, I1:c Romanr crll luch o,lflclrh na cancelllr", a tcnn which

refers to the guichet bchlnd which they work, 5 Hc wrr eccompanied also
byZondalas, the head of his domestic retinue and by hls annudrs and the
rest of his householcl setvants. And so he took with him to Ravenna about
access

four hundred men all told.

20. Meanwhile the Franks were in Italy and the fortunes of the Goths
v/ere no\v in their hands. The only petson however, to understand where
his future interests would lie and to grasp the full implications of their
situation was Aligern, the son of Fritigern and brother of Teas, whom I
mentioned earlier on in connection with the siege of Cumae. z A careful
assessment of the situatiom,infact, led him to realise that the Franks had
indeed come in response to an appe'l for help, but were in reality availing
themselves of an empty formula of alliance in order to mask what, in the
event, would prove to be very difierent intentions. Assuming they did get
the better of the Romans tley would certainly have no intention of letting
the Goths haveltaly, but would in actual fact begin by enslaving the very
people whose cause they vere supposed to be drampioning. Th"y would
subiect them to the rule of Frankish overlords and thus deprive them of
their traditiond. way of life. 3 After much pondering and weighing up of
the pros and cons and in view of the fact that the strain of the siege was
beginning to tell on him the obvious course seemed to be to hand over the
city and its wealth to Narses, renounce his barbarian connections, and secure
his future by becoming a subiect of the Empire. 4Hs thought it oriy fur,
that, if it were not possible for the Goths to possess Italy, its ancient inhabitants and original masters shoulcl recover it and not be perpetually deprived of their homeland. For his o'rn part, then he resolved to pursue.this
poliry, thereby setting all his compatriots a signal example of good sense.
5 After haying first intimated to the besiegers that he wished to have a
meeting rvith their general, and then having received permission to do so, he
made his way to Classis in the district of Ravenna, where, he had learnt, was
the fort in whiclr Narses was staying. 6 As soon as he found himself face
to face with Narses he harded over the keys of Cumae to him and promlsed
to serve him with a good grace in all things. Narses congratulted him on
joining the Roman side and assured him that his services would be more than
amply rewarded. 7 He then gave immediate orders to a detacihment of
the troops encamped around Cumae to move into position inside the fortifications in order to take over the city and its treasures and to guard everything securely. The rest of the troops \rrefe to withdtaw to other towns and
forts so that they too might have somewhere in whidr to pss the winter.
All his instructions wete carried out.
8 The Hed army was agan leadeess and the majority was split over
the rival claims of two equally distinguished contesta^Ilts. One body of

29

oplnlon frvouted Aruth rnd fclt that their bcot lnteteatr would be served by
hlr lcadcnhlp. On the other hand the military expericnce and forceful
personality of Slndual had more appeal for others, including Narses who put
hlm in command and eent thenr ofi too to their wintet quaf,ters.
20
9 Aligern he sent to Caesena with instructions to climb up, as soon as
he got there, and stick his head over the wall in such a way as to make himcelf generally conspicuous and easily recognized. The object of these inotructions was that the Franks, who would be passing by that way, might on
seeing that Aligernhad dranged sides give up the idea of mardring on Cumae,
together with any hope they may have had of laying their hands on its
tfeasures. They might even perhaps abandon the entire campaign, in view of
the fact that all points of vantage had already been seized in advance.
ro 7hen Aligern saw the Franks passing by he jeered at them from the
top of the wall and taunted them with the futility of any further exetrions
and with their failure to keep up with events. Everything of value was aIready in the hands of the Romans including even the royal insignia of the
Goths. Any future claimant to the throne would have none of the pomp and
outward symbols of majesty but would be obliged to don the garb of a
common soldier and a pivate citizen.
r r The Franks retorted with abuse and reviled him as the traitor of his
nation. Yet they began to have vague doubts about the advisability of their
present policy and even wonderec{ whether to continue with the war. The
prevailing view, however, \r7as that they should stand firm and press on with
the pursuit of their original objective.
21. Meanwhile, Narses after a stay in Ravenna in the course of whidr he
rerziewed the troops gationed there and got everything properly organized
set

ofl for Ariminum 21 with the

same retinue as

before. z Vaccarus

the

Varne, a man outstanding for his skill and bravery in war, had recently died.
His son, whose nme sTas Theudebald, straightaway attached himself to the
Emperor of the Romans, taking his followers with him. He was novr in
Atiminum where he was supposed to meet Narses. 3 So Narses arrived
there intending to make doubly sure of their allegiance by the bestowal of a
special bounty.
4 Vhile he was busying himself with tlese mtters a mixed cavalry and
irtantry force of about t'ro thousand Franks, whidr had been sent by their
Ieaders to pillage and plunder the countryside began to ravage the fields, draggrng otr drarrght animals and setting no limit to their depredations. Narses,
who was seated in an upper room commanding a view of the plain, could not
fail to notice what was going on. 5 Thinking it shameful and ignoble not to
ofler all possible resistance he rode out of the city on an obedient and welltrained thoroughbred which was capable of performing every kind of manoeuToGsen

"

21

Rimini.